Cunning Reanimator

Jacob Van LunenThursday, November 20, 2008

've really been meaning to build a deck around Cunning Lethemancer. Making your opponents discard their relevant spells is pretty sexy. It's even more attractive when you can turn it into an advantage for yourself. I've been wanting to build a reanimator deck for some time now. Beacon of Unrest is going for less than 0.5 tickets and you can get Empyrial Archangel for 1.5 tickets in the classifieds section of Magic Online. I fiddled around with a build that was strictly focused on reanimating something very dangerous as quickly as possible, but I was disappointed with the results. I decided I could use the usual suspects (Shriekmaw and Mulldrifter) with Makeshift Mannequin and probably make a much better deck.

Hidden Horror: I scoured through the available card pool in Standard and found some hidden gems that could make an archetype like this really work. One of the cards that excited me most was Hidden Horror. You can use Hidden Horror to discard your reanimation target and leave it on the ground to block whatever threat your opponent might be attacking with. Better yet, if you're the aggro, you can start swinging for 4 at a time.

Cunning Lethemancer: The power level of this card in this particular deck is pretty absurd. If you're opponent doesn't have a removal spell immediately they're in a world of trouble. Control players will be put to tough decisions like, "Should I play a land or discard my counter?" Aggressive decks will run out of steam a lot quicker than you. Always discard a reanimation target if you can. If you're low on cards, (which rarely happens) you should hold excess lands (beyond the fifth) to discard to your Cunning Lethemancer. Lands six through eight do very little for you; it's only once you get to nine that they really starts to help.

Shriekmaw: Again, Shriekmaw is an automatic inclusion in decks running Makeshift Mannequin. You don't necessarily need to be playing four, but I like having a decent amount of removal, especially considering the amount of White Weenie that's been floating around lately.

Sift:Sift may seem odd, but I was looking for another discard outlet. I thought about Ghastly Discovery, but I already have eight cards that cost three and I figured I could afford to pay an additional mana to net an additional card.

Game 3: Now my opponent was packing what seemed like a full set of Negate, and I had trouble playing through the countermagic. Eventually my opponent activated the one-sided Armageddon on Ajani Vengeant and had a Kitchen Finks in play while I had no permanents. I lost.

2-1

Round 4: Elf Tokens!

Game 1: I was on the draw with a mediocre hand. My opponent had an unbelievably fast draw. He played a Regal Force on turn four and drew seven cards. I had the reanimate spell for my Reya, but my opponent played Overrun the next turn and I was out of the game.

Game 2: I sided in Infest and took out both my Woodfall Primus and two Sift. My opponent again had a blisteringly fast start. I drew a lucky Infest on my fourth turn and six-for-oned my opponent, who scooped immediately.

Game 3: I had an opening hand with two Infest. The Elf combo can't really avoid being at least three-for-oned by the Infest. I beat down with a Shriekmaw until my opponent decided to overcommit and I used my second Infest. I passed, and he played an Imperious Perfect off the top of his deck. Luckily, I drew Shriekmaw off the top of mine. I attacked a few more times, and my opponent was in scoop mode.